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Floyd, Cantu receive high marks from web site

UTEP head coach Tim Floyd and his assistant Bob Cantu were given high marks by the national basketball web site CoachStat.net.

Floyd was ranked as the 19th best X's and O's coach in the nation and Cantu was listed as the 24th best assistant coach in the nation. The web site used a national panel of voters and analytical data to make their rankings.

“Coach Floyd is well known for practice porousness,” the site says. “One of the best SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysts in the game.”

Floyd has been a head coach for 22 seasons at Idaho, New Orleans, Iowa State, USC and now UTEP. He has had 20 winning seasons, taken eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, five to the NIT and has a 435-243 overall record.

Cantu is in his 19th year as a college coach and third at UTEP after serving as interim head coach at USC for the final 15 games of the 2012-13 season. He has participated in 10 postseason tournaments as a collegiate coach.

“There is a reason great basketball minds like (Henry) Bibby, Floyd and (Kevin) O’Neill hired and kept Cantu on staff, eventually leading him to an interim head coach tag at USC; plain and simple, this guy is good!!!,” the site says.

Floyd chuckled and said, "That's nice. But if the second half of our game against Florida A&M (a 72-54 win where the Miners were outscored 30-24 in the second half) gets out there and goes viral, there will probably be a re-count of that vote. That's good for Bob. I hope it helps him. He wants to be a head coach. He's been doing a fine job and that's why we hired him at USC and why we hired him here."

The Miners, currently 4-0 on the season, are on their way to Corpus Christi, where they will face Southern Illinois at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Corpus Christi Coastal Classic.

Bill Knight may be reached at 546-6171; bknight@elpasotimes.com; @BillKnightept on Twitter.